The sun. [volume] (Morris, Stevens County, Minn.) 1882-1895, 1887-04-07
THE DELIGHTS OF SMITHvILLE.
A North Carolina Town That Has
Great Attractions for Sportsmen.

A North Carolina Town That Has
Great Attractions for Sportsmen.
In the bay in front of Smithville, N.
C., is Coon island, which Is inhabited
by an infinite number of raccoons. No
BODY takes the trouble to hunt them,
because nobody cares to eat them. Not
even the darkies down there know how
good roast coon is. Almost all the
bottom OF the great bay is covered with
enormous natural beds of the largest,
latest, and most deliciously-favored
oysters imaginable. Successive gener-
atoms of oysters throughout ages past
have piled their shells upon those OF
their predecessors until they have made
solid masses of shells, like rocks or CO.
raj reefs. as much as twenty-five feet
in depth. In many places they have
builded until now they are out of the
water at low tide, and the boys of
Smithville find it handy and amusing
10 build fires on them when the tide is
out, and roast them in their beds, f1irt-
ing each oyster out of his shell as he is
cooked and swallowing him. The tide
rises and falls about five feet.
Monster green turtles, some weigh
ing as much as 1,500 pounds each, 1re-
quent the beach all the way down to
Fort Caswell, four miles below the
town. People eat their eggs, but do
not eat the turtles. Beach parties of
young folks go down there, gather
beautiful shells, have dances on the
hard sand in the moonlight, roast
oysters, and have fun with the turtles.
When female turtle wishes to lay her
eggs she crawls up the sandy beach to
place that suits her fancy, digs with
her tlppers big hole in the sand and
then lays in the hole 200 or 800 eggs.
The eggs are not dumped in a pile, but
laid out smoothly in rows. When she
commences laying it makes no odds to
her how big beach party stands
around experimenting the process. She
attends strictly to business, and even
if the eggs are taken from the hole as
last rs she lays them it does not at all
discourage or frighten her. When she
gets through she scrapes the sand bank
into the hole, whether the eggs are
there or not, and then starts back to the
water. That is the time for the beach
party to have fun with her. AS many
Of them as can mount her big, domelike
back do so, and she carries them right
down to the waters edge, where they
Jump off and she goes on. She does
not seem to mind their weight or show
any disposition to resent their good
natured familiarity. Sometimes they
turn her over on her back, but after
she has helplessly paved the air a
little while they right her again and she
waddles of. Of course, there must be
something wrong mentally in a people
who can tumble around green turtles in
that way without ever thinking of eat
ing them.
And they don't eat soft CLANS either,
though the beach sand is packed full of
these excellent bivalves. Indeed, the
very idea of eating them seems to
awaken feelings of disgust and loath-
ing among the darkies. Nor do they
eat the mussels, which are abundant
Hard CLAIMS, of which there are few
millions in pretty much every place
where anybody might look for them in
the bay, they do eat. but not with any
particular enthusiasm, though their
hard clans are really very fine.
All the fishing is done with lines and
hooks. for there are good reasons why
the destructive seine can never be sue
cessfully used there. The currents are
so treacherous and strong that paying
out and hauling seine would be ex-
ceedingly difficult; the rough oyster
shell bottom would hold and tear a
seine to peices; the sharks which are
very numerous and often as much as
fifteen feet in length, would 60 through
seine as rifle ball would through a
spiders web. So there is no danger of
the fishing here ever being spoiled by
the unholy energy of the depraved
men who fish with nets. The native
appliances for fishing are very primi-
tive. merely stout, short line tied to
the tip of long bamboo pole. a big
hook to the end of the line, and a
shrimp of amazing size on the hook.
That is the outfit even for fishing
from a boat, for hand lines are very
seldom used. As for rod and reel the
fishermen down there did not seem to
know any more about them than a
goat might of a geometrical lathe. and
were intensely interested and vastly
surprised when they saw fish-big
ones too-caught by such an apparatus.
The shrimps that are the universal
/ bait for all sorts of fish, and at all sea-
sons, are five inches long with feel
ers.' To catch them a singular
purse-net is employed. 1t has u run
ming string and bullet-like leads all
around it. The fisherman takes one of
the leads in his mouth, partly spreads
the net with both hands, and gives it
a dexterous twisting throw that drops
it upon the water fully spread and as
round as wheel. In that position it
sinks. After it has been left lying on
the bottom few minutes he draws the
rope attached to it. which gathers its
edge up together tightly, and when he
hauls it up he has his shrimp literally
| bagged York Times.